Fake firefighter refused to get off burning building, say police

PORTSMOUTH — While the F.A. Gray building burned during a three-alarm fire last June, Dean Ellis was on the roof pretending to be a firefighter, while wearing a concealed pistol without a permit, say police.

PORTSMOUTH — While the F.A. Gray building burned during a three-alarm fire last June, Dean Ellis was on the roof pretending to be a firefighter, while wearing a concealed pistol without a permit, say police.

Ellis, 29, of 1145 Main St., Rochester, was arraigned Monday on a charge of disorderly conduct that alleges he refused to evacuate the roof of the burning building, after being given lawful orders by firefighters, who put a ladder up to rescue him. He was also arraigned on a second misdemeanor alleging he was carrying a loaded and concealed pistol in the back waistband of his pants without a license to do so.

According to an affidavit by Portsmouth police detective Timothy Cashman, on June 30, 2013, police and fire responders were called to the burning Daniel Street building and were met by heavy black smoke and flames escaping from second-floor windows and the roof. Four apartments on the second and third floors were declared a total loss and the source of the fire was later traced to a ceiling light fixture in one of the apartments which was unoccupied at the time, Cashman reported.

Police learned the following day that Ellis had reported the fire and “created the impression” that he was a Manchester firefighter. He made a second emergency call when he gave his name and phone number, while calling for a “second alarm to be struck” and telling a dispatcher that if the deputy fire chief had any questions, he could call him.

Meanwhile, firefighters extended a ladder to the roof of the burning building, “thinking he was a resident needing rescue,” Cashman wrote. Ellis refused to come down while using firefighting terminology including calling for “a trash line” to be passed to him, police allege.

Ellis was not wearing protective firefighting clothing and distracted firefighters from their duties, according to Cashman's affidavit. Police say Ellis eventually came off the roof.

Near the fire scene, a Portsmouth police officer later saw Ellis remove a layer of clothing, noted he appeared “very hot and out of breath” and saw he had a pistol concealed in the back waistband of his pants, court records state. He identified himself to the officer as a Manchester firefighter, Cashman wrote.

Police allege Ellis' actions and emergency phone calls caused “confusion” during the early response to the fire because standard operating procedures were not being followed as a result, according to the police affidavit.

The Manchester Fire Department later reported that Ellis was never a member of the department, according to court records.

Ellis also identified himself as a Manchester firefighter to a Herald reporter when he posed for a photo during a firefighters' fundraiser at a Portsmouth bar a few months before the Daniel Street fire.

He is currently free on $1,200 personal recognizance bail and is scheduled for a June 17 trial. According to a pre-release form he completed after his arrest, Ellis is employed by a company that supplies fire extinguishers.